A Cultural History of Disability in the Middle Ages (The Cultural Histories Series)

"The Middle Ages was an era of dynamic social transformation, and notions of disability in medieval culture reflected how norms and forms of embodiment interacted with gender, class, and race, among other dimensions of human difference. Ideas of disability in courtly romance, saints' lives, chronicles, sagas, secular lyrics, dramas, and pageants demonstrate the nuanced, and sometimes contradictory, relationship between cultural constructions of disability and the lived experience of impairment. An essential resource for researchers, scholars, and students of history, literature, visual art, cultural studies, and education, A Cultural History of Disability in the Middle Ages explores themes and topics such as: atypical bodies, mobility impairment, chronic pain and illness, blindness, deafness, speech, learning difficulties, and mental health"-- Provided by publisher How has our understanding and treatment of disability evolved in Western culture? How has it been represented and perceived in different social and cultural conditions? In a work that spans 2,500 years, these ambitious questions are addressed by over 50 experts, each contributing their overview of a theme applied to a period in history. The volumes describe different kinds of physical and mental disabilities, their representations and receptions, and what impact they have had on society and everyday life.0Individual volume editors ensure the cohesion of the whole, and to make it as easy as possible to use, chapter titles are identical across each of the volumes. This gives the choice of reading about a specific period in one of the volumes, or following a theme across history by reading the relevant chapter in each of the six. The six volumes cover: 1. - Antiquity (500 BCE - 500 CE); 2. - Middle Ages (500 - 1450); 3. - Renaissance (1400 - 1650) ; 4. - Long Eighteenth Century (1650 - 1800); 5. - Long Nineteenth Century (1800 - 1920); 6. - Modern Age (1920 - 2000+). Themes (and chapter titles) are: atypical bodies; mobility impairment; chronic pain and illness; blindness; deafness; speech; learning difficulties; mental health. The page extent is approximately 2,000 pages with c. 200 illustrations. Each volume opens with Notes on Contributors, a series preface and an introduction, and concludes with notes, bibliography and an index How has our understanding and treatment of disability evolved in Western culture? How has it been represented and perceived in different social and cultural conditions? In a work that spans 2,500 years, these ambitious questions are addressed by over 50 experts, each contributing their overview of a theme applied to a period in history. The volumes describe different kinds of physical and mental disabilities, their representations and receptions, and what impact they have had on society and everyday life. Individual volume editors ensure the cohesion of the whole, and to make it as easy as possible to use, chapter titles are identical across each of the volumes. This gives the choice of reading about a specific period in one of the volumes, or following a theme across history by reading the relevant chapter in each of the six. The six volumes cover: 1. - Antiquity (500 BCE - 500 CE); 2. - Middle Ages (500 - 1450); 3. - Renaissance (1400 - 1650) ; 4. - Long Eighteenth Century (1650 - 1800); 5. - Long Nineteenth Century (1800 - 1920); 6. - Modern Age (1920 - 2000+). Themes (and chapter titles) are: atypical bodies; mobility impairment; chronic pain and illness; blindness; deafness; speech; learning difficulties; mental health. The page extent is approximately 2,000 pages with c. 200 illustrations. Each volume opens with Notes on Contributors, a series preface and an introduction, and concludes with notes, bibliography and an index List of Illustrations -- Notes of Contributors -- Series Preface -- Introduction : Disabilities in Motion / Jonathan Hsy, George Washington University, USA, Tory V. Pearman, Miami University, Hamilton, USA, and Joshua R. Eyler, Rice University, USA -- Chapter 1. Atypical Bodies : Seeking after Meaning in Physical Difference / John P. Sexton, Bridgewater State University, USA -- Chapter 2. Mobility Impairments : The Social Horizons of Disability in the Middle Ages / Richard H. Godden, Louisiana State University, USA -- Chapter 3. Chronic Pain and Illness : Reinstating Crip-Chronic Histories to Forge Affirmative Disability Futures / Alicia Spencer-Hall, Queen Mary, University of London, UK -- Chapter 4. Blindness : Evolving Religious and Secular Constructions and Responses / Edward Wheatley, Loyola University Chicago, USA -- Chapter 5. Deafness : Reading Invisible Signs / Julie Singer, Washington University in St. Louis, USA -- Chapter 6. Speech : Medieval Representations of Speech Impairments / Kisha G. Tracy, Fitchburg State University, USA -- Chapter 7. Learning Difficulties : Ideas about Intellectual Diversity in Medieval Thought and Culture / Eliza Buhrer, Colorado School of Mines, USA -- Chapter 8. Mental Health Issues : Folly, Frenzy, and the Family / Aleksandra Pfau, Hendrix College, USA -- Author and Editor Biographies -- References -- Index Cover 1 Contents 6 List of Figures 7 Notes on Contributors 9 Series Preface 12 Introduction: Disabilities in Motion Jonathan Hsy, Tory V. Pearman, and Joshua R. Eyler 18 1 Atypical Bodies: Seeking after Meaning in Physical Difference John P. Sexton 36 2 Mobility Impairment: The Social Horizons of Disability in the Middle Ages Richard H. Godden 52 3 Chronic Pain and Illness: Reinstating Chronic-Crip Histories to Forge Affirmative Disability Futures Alicia Spencer-Hall 68 4 Blindness: Evolving Religious and Secular Constructions and Responses Edward Wheatley 84 5 Deafness: Reading Invisible Signs Julie Singer 100 6 Speech: Medieval Representations of Speech Impairments Kisha G. Tracy 116 7 Learning Difficulties: Ideas about Intellectual Diversity in Medieval Thought and Culture Eliza Buhrer 132 8 Mental Health Issues: Folly, Frenzy, and the Family Aleksandra Pfau 150 Notes 165 References 176 Index 197 "The Middle Ages was an era of dynamic social transformation, and notions of disability in medieval culture reflected how norms and forms of embodiment interacted with gender, class, and race, among other dimensions of human difference. Ideas of disability in courtly romance, saints' lives, chronicles, sagas, secular lyrics, dramas, and pageants demonstrate the nuanced, and sometimes contradictory, relationship between cultural constructions of disability and the lived experience of impairment. An essential resource for researchers, scholars, and students of history, literature, culture, and education, A Cultural History of Disability in the Middle Ages explores such themes and topics as: atypical bodies, mobility impairment, chronic pain and illness, blindness, deafness, speech, learning difficulties, and mental health"